Fisher Houses help wounded, families

Updated 6:26 pm, Friday, November 22, 2013

Photo: Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News

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Arizona National Guard Sgt. David Baldenegro and his wife, Valerie, reside in a Fisher House at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. Baldenegro is receiving rehab for wounds suffered in a mortar attack while in Afghanistan more than a year ago. less

Arizona National Guard Sgt. David Baldenegro and his wife, Valerie, reside in a Fisher House at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. Baldenegro is receiving rehab for wounds suffered in a mortar attack ... more

Photo: Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News

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U.S. Army Sgt. Eugene Moore, 34, uses the living area at the Fisher House at Brooke Army Medical Center, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013.

U.S. Army Sgt. Eugene Moore, 34, uses the living area at the Fisher House at Brooke Army Medical Center, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013.

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

Fisher Houses help wounded, families

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SAN ANTONIO — Sgt. David Baldenegro has been in San Antonio for more than a year, recovering from a bomb blast in Afghanistan, hoping to walk again.

He's spent most of that time at the Fisher House at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. Though far from his home in Tucson, Ariz., he still enjoys the smell of his wife's baked lasagna and the company of staff, volunteers, veterans and family members.

“If you need help, someone is always here,” said Baldenegro, 26. “I love it. Emotionally, it helps you out because you can talk to people.”

Since 1990, the Fisher House Foundation has helped more than 180,000 families of ill or wounded veterans and their families worldwide, providing comfortable, homelike lodging. San Antonio is a hub in the network, with four Fisher Houses and 57 rooms at Fort Sam; three with 26 rooms at JBSA-Lackland; and one with 16 rooms at Audie Murphy VA Hospital.

Flying shrapnel from a mortar blast shattered the bones in Baldenegro's right leg. The Arizona national guardsman and his wife, Valerie, were married in a civil ceremony just before he deployed. They hope to have a formal wedding, maybe children.

“We can all just lean on each other. We're all going through a hardship,” she said.

With cooperation from the U.S. government and support from donors and corporate sponsors, the foundation has built a reputation as an efficient nonprofit that doesn't cut corners. It also provides air travel and hotel lodging for veterans' families, and scholarships for military children. It even offered during a recent government shutdown to give financial assistance to families of the fallen before Congress acted to fill the gap in services.

Inge Godfrey, Fort Sam Houston's Fisher House manager since 1992, said the pace has gotten “a little more hectic” as thousands of war-wounded troops have been treated at Brooke Army Medical Center (now San Antonio Military Medical Center) in recent years.

“But the support I get from the public and BAMC has been great,” Godfrey said.

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Fisher Houses by the numbers

Since 1990, the Fisher Houses have provided more than 4.7 million days of lodging to more than 180,000 families, saving veterans and their families $200 million in transportation and lodging costs.

Of the 62 Fisher Houses worldwide at military bases and VA facilities, eight are in San Antonio — the greatest concentration in one community.

The length of stay is about 10 days on average, or 45-60 days after a combat casualty.

The Fisher House Foundation, which is rated highly by Charity Navigator and other groups that monitor nonprofits, spends 5 percent of its budget on administration and fundraising, directing the remainder of its funds directly toward its services.

How to help

Individual Fisher Houses often accept gift cards for stores or restaurants, and sponsors for meals or game nights. Call the Fisher Houses at San Antonio Military Medical Center, 210-916-6000; Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center, 210-671-6037; and the South Texas Veterans Health Care System (Audie Murphy VA Hospital), 210-617-5542, ext. 61672.

The foundation offers numerous options for donating online. Contributions may support the Fisher House network or specific sites or programs. Visit www.fisher house.org.

Checks may be made to the Fisher House Foundation and mailed to: Fisher House Foundation, Inc.; 111 Rockville Pike, Suite 420; Rockville, MD 20850-5168.

Army Sgt. Eugene Moore served three tours in Afghanistan and now helps his wife, Jolene, after she suffered a severe lung infection and had a bilateral lung transplant. She was brought to BAMC from Germany in July, in a rare trans-Atlantic transport of an adult patient attached to an external breathing device.

The Fisher House also has been a lifesaver, said Moore, 34. He and his wife have used the free long distance and Internet there to stay in touch with their three children, ages 8, 10 and 11, he said.

“This has been extremely rough for them, and for her,” he said. “She can't lift more than a gallon of milk.”

His wife, who must avoid germs, stays at the Fisher House without worry, Moore said.

“We have the Fisher House family that has kind of adopted us,” Moore said.